Johns Hopkins News Letter | [H]ow are you comprehending the words that are on this page? How are you able to understand your friend sitting next to you as she worries about her fast-approaching midterm? How are you able to string a sentence together that will relieve her worries? These are the little phenomena that Colin Wilson, Associate Professor in the Cognitive Science Department, is passionate about.

After a decade of research, cognitive scientist Barbara Landau is mapping new territory in Williams syndrome—a rare condition that has long baffled scientists. Click to read the article in Arts & Sciences magazine.

Dr. Landau's scientific research addresses the nature of human spatial understanding, the nature of language, and the relationship between the two during early development and in adulthood. The Guggenheim Fellowship will allow her to spend a full year writing a book on the nature of spatial knowledge and language in people with Williams syndrome.